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A person purchased three items on eBay, they were not LEGO but all relatively light collectible items. The person, who has hundreds of positive feedback claimed that the most expensive item was not included and they want a refund. They say that they threw away the original box and packaging and then they made a claim for a return. The buyer has the advantage on eBay and I know who wins when I say that I shipped something and the buyer says that I did not. I am probably going to have to refund the $40, otherwise eBay will just take it from my account and lower my seller rating.
The eBay site does not allow giving the buyer negative feedback and if I explained my viewpoint on a positive feedback I would probably get a negative from him. So neither of us will post and we will both wait to see if the other person posts. Following this logic, any other seller who had the same problem probably did not document the problem on feedback, preventing me from finding a seller to whom he has done this to before. Only eBay could determine if this is a pattern of behavior, but would they care as long as the buyers are happy?
In retrospect, I suppose that the only thing I could have done differently was to ship each item separately. However, I don’t see a way to ever completely prevent a false claim like this from happening if a buyer is dishonest. Thoughts?
Video record yourself packaging the items, use some kind of fancy tape with seal-breaking tech (like what you see on a gas pump to indicate that it hasn’t been tampered with) and keep the video running until you drop it off at the post office.
So while being recorded, seal it at the post office and give it to the clerk. It sounds like unnecessary work, but it might be worth doing for a high value item.
I’ve had positive experiences dealing with eBay directly when there are problems. If you still have the receipt to show the actual weight, though it is light, it gives you data that he can’t refute since he destroyed the evidence.
In general, do what is right, fully, and no matter the outcome, you have that security. Whatever is noble, blah blah blah. If you shipped it, say so, provide the evidence you have, etc. if your experience with the buyer was negative, say so. Pull out of the fear/backlash cycle and if they don’t, that’s up to them to deal with. You did what you thought was right, especially in the absence of a reasonable/truthful counter party.
Agree with @joshhall. Do what you feel is right and warranted and at least you’ll be at peace.
I have run into shoddy packaging and bad shipments. I have been pretty lucky to have sellers respond well and with refunds when warranted. I always send pics of the damage or, if possible, just refuse the shipment.
I have had buyers stiff me. I wrote them up, but who knows if anything came of it. Now there is a little more protection with PayPal and eBay stepping in. Always send with signature and insurance I guess. Maybe if they sign for it it will defend that it was in good order when you sent it and they received it. They may still dispute the contents. Take pre-package pictures so at least you have some evidence. Then ask them for their pics and compare.
Never a guarantee unless you only sell local and deliver to them personally. Good luck!
The person gave me positive feedback for this so-called missing item but still claims that it is missing. I reached the deadline before eBay stepped in, so I refunded the buyer. Instead of giving feedback, I provided eBay my version of the story so that if they detect a pattern, MAYBE they will do something. Whatever, its minuscule compared to college tuition.
Never a guarantee unless you only sell local and deliver to them personally.
some kind of fancy tape with seal-breaking tech
I learned that tamper proof tape DOES exist for all kinds of applications, including sealing medicine containers. There was none at WAL*MART but you can get it on Amazon and directly from uline. This warrants further investigation. Maybe it would actually prevent some 3rd party from messing with the package.
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